This is a Joke, Right?
by colombiansoccerchick
Summary: The S.P. has just been forced to join a beauty contest by Narumi's dad. But soon, hate mail starts popping up on the S.P.'s website, like in chap 20. But is this just a meaningless stupid thing like last time? Or is there something more sinister at work?
1. Chapter 1

**C.S.C.: This is my first chaptered fic! Its starts off where chapter 6 (Beauty Pop Stage 2) left off. At least...I think its chapter 6. I'm not quite sure of the exact chapter number, but it's at the end of volume 8!! So anyways, the only spoilers are at the beginning. And there **_**might**_** be some super small ones sprinkled in by accident. I'll try hard not to because I'm not sure if the people reading mind spoilers or not. **

**Oh, by the way, I have very sad news. The final chapter of Beauty Pop has come out in Japan. U.U So now it's officially ten volumes. Isn't that sad?? It was my favorite series ever!!!! And what's even worse is that it won't come out in the U.S. til December!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and if you want to read a summery of it, plus read a couple of pages from it, I have some links on my profile!! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Beauty Pop, I would make the series longer...but...I don't...so I can't do anything about it

* * *

**

**Flashback from Volume 8**

(note: I will refer to Narumi's dad by first name, Yujiro, so I don't have to type out "Narumi's dad" every time I mention him.)

_Narumi read the paper that his dad had just handed him. Ochiai and Iori peered over his shoulder. "All Japan Beauty Contest?" he read._

"_Yes," Narumi's dad answered. "The Top beauticians in all of Japan enter this contest. If the S.P. can prove that they have the skill and win this contest, I'll let you do whatever you want. But," here Yujiro's voice got lower and more threatening. "If you lose the S.P. will be disbanded forever."_

_Narumi crumpled up the paper and threw it back at his dad. "No thanks, we don't need your help."_

_Yujiro Narumi smirked. "Is that so...well, then I guess you don't care that I have this."_

_And with "this" he held up a folder with the words "Koshiba Beauty Salon" on it. _

"_These are the rights to the Koshiba Beauty Salon," he said._

_Narumi and Ochiai snapped back. Even Kiri looked back._

"_Anyone who has these rights can do whatever they want with the salon, for example, tear it down and put a new building in it's place." he continued in a low voice._

_The S.P. looked shocked and angry._

"_Well, I'll take my leave." Yujiro said as he started to walk away._

"_Wait one second!" Narumi said, stepping forward._

"_Hmm? What is it?" Narumi's dad said with a smirk, turning back._

_Ochiai held up the piece of paper. "If we win this contest..." he began._

"_Then you will give us the rights?" Narumi finished._

_Yujiro smirked. "Yes. If you win the contest, then I will give you the rights."_

**End of Flashback

* * *

**

Kiri yawned as she walked to school. Billy was walking next to her and was talking to her about something. Not that Kiri was listening. She was busy trying to figure out which class she could sleep through without the teacher caring.

As they neared the school, Kiri heard in the background Billy saying,

"…today?"

Kiri decided to finally pay a little attention to the poor guy.

"Hmm?" she said as she cast a bored look at him.

Billy rolled his eyes. "I ASKED you if you were going to be late in coming home today, since don't you have that S.P. meeting thing after school?"

(Btw, in the manga, Billy is boarding at Kiri's house)

"Oh…yeah…maybe." Kiri yawned again as Billy went on and on about him being better than Narumi at haircutting and whatnot. She didn't care. She just wanted to take a nap.

Kiri and Billy walked into their classroom and were greeted by Kanako and Taro.

"Hello, Kiri-chan!" Kanako greeted cheerfully.

"Hey." Kiri said back.

"Hey Kiri!!" Taro-tard exclaimed. "You're going to the S.P. meeting today after school, right?"

"Hmm…yeah, I guess." Kiri replied in her usual monotonous voice.

"Great! Because Ochiai-senpai said that today was a training day for the contest!" Taro continued, obviously super excited.

"Oh…so?" Kiri replied, obviously not interested.

"What?!? How can you just say 'oh', Kiri?! _You're_ the one who has the most at stake h-"

"**Hey you**! Don't be so rude to a **lady**, especially Kirity!"

Everyone turned around to see, of course, Iori coming up with his aroma-of-the-day in one day, and a heart eyed girl in the other.

"Oh…it's you." Kiri said.

"**NO**!!!!!!" Iori exclaimed as he collapsed to the floor in depression. "How could you be so cruel, Kirity??"

Meanwhile, everyone was watching Billy talking and smiling with the girl who had been on Iori's arm (and is now standing in front of Billy's desk). She seemed to be totally overcome with him. Iori immediately recovered.

"**Hey you**! That's** me's lady**!!!! Back off!!!"

"Huh?" Billy grinned innocently. "What was I doing? We were just talking."

Kiri rolled her eyes as Iori kept yelling at Billy. She put her head down on the desk. All she wanted was a nap…

* * *

Later that day, after school, the whole S.P. was assembled in the clubroom. The S.P., that is, except for Ochiai, on whom they were waiting on. 

Finally the door opened and in walked the S.P. president: Kazuhiko Ochiai.

"Hello, everyone," he started. "I'm sure you all have heard about the training that's going to take place today."

Narumi spoke up as everyone nodded.

"Yeah, Kazuhiko, um, what's up with that?"

But before Ochiai could answer, Iori (who was sitting in a chair sipping a cup of tea) said, while shaking his head,

"Oh, Narusy. **Me** and Oushin are **very** disappointed. Surely a genius-san like **you** would know what a training day is."

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND STOP CALLING ME NARUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Narumi roared.

Kiri sighed. _So noisy…._

"Ahem!" Ochiai cleared his throat, trying to get everyone's attention again. He turned to Narumi. "Yes, Narumi. Today we are going to be honing our skills in preparation of the contest coming up."

"Okay, whatever!" Narumi said, shooting one more glare at Iori, who simply sipped his tea.

"**Me** has just one question, Oushin. **Me** does like to be with beautiful **ladies**, but the only **ladies** here are Kirity and Kanaria. So is **me** only going to practice on them? Because it's too hard for **me** to imagine Narusy as a beautiful **lady**."

Narumi snapped. "Why…you…" he said, shaking with rage.

Ochiai quickly stepped in. "Actually, no. When I planned this, I went around and asked certain people if they were willing to be a model for us to do a makeover on for practice. They readily agreed."

"Huh? Who did you ask?" Narumi asked.

Ochiai went to the door and opened it, revealing a large group of Narumi's fan girls.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeee!" they squealed as they rushed forward into the clubroom.

"Ah. Here they are." Ochiai said.

"?!" Narumi could feel his skin starting to feel itchy just by looking at the huge crowd of girls heading towards him.

"Kazuhikoooo!!!!!" was the last thing the S.P. heard before the large group of girls blocked Narumi out from view.

The S.P. gawked. Kei was happily getting food from some of the girls.

"Argh!!! Get away from me!!!" they heard Narumi shout.

"Well," Ochiai said. "Shall we start?"

First Iori would treat the person to an aroma he thought matched best while Seki gave her a massage. Next, Kei would do their nails at the same time Ochiai was doing make-up. Lastly, but not least, Kiri and Narumi were in charge of adding the last bit of magic, in the form of a haircut.

* * *

**Four hours later…**

Narumi collapsed into a chair. "Oh gosh! Finally we're done!"

Ochiai added, "It seems that's the last of them."

Kiri yawned. "Well then, I'm off. Later."

"Hey, Kiri-chan, I'll walk you home." Seki said.

Iori immediately sprang forward.

"**NO! **Mister! That's **me's** duty! Kirity wait! **Me **will walk you home!" (No, I don't take credit for that line :P)

"I'm leaving too! I'm hungry!" Kei moaned as he wobbled out the door.

"Che. Finally mussy-head left. With a genius like me in this club I don't see why we need _her_." Narumi said, as he started to organize the S.P. room.

Ochiai rolled his eyes as he checked the S.P.'s website.

_Hmm….we've been getting a lot of hits lately. Excellent. _

He was about to close when a message popped up. _Oh? A new email. Let's see…_

A few moments later Ochiai said, "Narumi, come over here. Take a look at this email."

Narumi put down the scissors he was organizing and went to where Ochiai was.

"What is it, Kazuhiko?"

Ochiai pointed at the screen. "Read," he said. It read,

_Hey little baby prince of Salon-de-Narumi! I heard that you and that little puny club of yours was planning on entering the _All Japan Beauty Contest. _Well, I'm here to tell you to drop out immediately! Or who knows what I might do to __force you__ to drop out! This is NOT a prank!!'_

"WHAT???????? WHO DOES THIS JERK THINK HE IS?????????" Narumi yelled.

"Hey, Narumi, this reminds me of the other time this happened. Remember when Chisami-chan and Aoyama-san were kidnapped? This seems very similar."

Narumi calmed down. "Oh…yeah, I guess. Do you think that this is just a stupid thing like that?"

"I don't know." Ochiai replied.

When Narumi muttered "If only we knew who that big-mouthed jerk was…" Ochiai smiled.

"Thank you, Narumi."

"Eh?"

"You just reminded me of something." Ochiai continued, pushing his glasses up unto his nose. "I know a way to trace emails. Let's see…"

Ochiai started doing a bunch of strange things on his laptop, leaving Narumi to wonder, _I thought only police could do that…heh. Never underestimate Kazuhiko…_

Ochiai suddenly stopped and stared at the screen in shock.

Narumi looked at him, confused. "Kazuhiko? Something wrong?"

Ochiai continued to stare, then spoke"…it seems that this person has gone to great lengths to make sure this email is untraceable." He turned and looked up at Narumi. "I don't think this person is kidding, Narumi."

Narumi stared at the computer screen. _Great lengths? _He wondered. Then he remembered something.

"Well, even if this guy _is_ serious we cant drop out! You heard my dad! If we don't win he'll…" he trailed off as they both remembered Yujiro's threats.

Ochiai sighed as he turned back to his laptop. Narumi was muttering "Stupid dad!" behind him

_I don't have a good feeling about this at all…

* * *

_

**C.S.C.: Phew!! I'm done with the first chapter! I think it was kinda longish. Hope you liked it!!**

**Btw, the flashback were taken from the end of volume 8. Some of the dialogue was substituted and I skipped some, cuz my Jap is so poor I cant understand 100 percent(Kanji is so hard D:). So if anyone has read it and will send me **_**correct **_**dialogue I will GLADLY revise it!!!! Thank you!!!**

**Review Please!!!!!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**C.S.C.: Well, I got hardly any reviews last time T-T. And most of the ones I DID get were from people I already knew. It used to bug me a little bit when authors would beg for reviews (I hate it when they refuse to update unless they get a certain number of reviews) but now that I'm an author I understand that reviews are really the only way the author knows if anyone likes their story (well, other than favorites and alerts). So if you don't get many…it makes you wonder…**

**In any case, thanks to everyone who reviewed! And Bikuki, this chapter is for you!! I hope one day you'll get the hang of everyone's character and do a fic about the ten years!!**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to put one before every chapter? sigh Well, I think we all know I don't own Beauty Pop. So don't sue!!

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**

It's been one week since that email popped up on the S.P.'s website and nothing has happened since. So Narumi and Ochiai stopped thinking about it.

For now…

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

The date of the contest was coming up quickly and the S.P. were continuing with their training.

"Hey Kiri!" Taro greeted as they walked out of class at the end of the day. "Going to the S.P. meeting?"

Kiri sighed. "Again?" So many…

"Well," said Taro, puffing out his chest with pride. "The S.P. have to train hard so they can go and cream all the other teams!"

Kiri gave him a sideways glance. "Taro-tard, why are you talking as if you're a member?"

Taro jolted. "W-wha, well, just you wait!! A couple of years form now I'll be so good at haircutting, Narumi-senpai will be on his knees _begging_ for me to join the S.P.!!" he proclaimed triumphantly, posing for effect.

Kiri yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Taro-tard. Let's go, Kanako." And she walked on, leaving Taro to enjoy his fantasy world.

Kanako smiled as she walked next to Kiri. She was trying to imagine the loud and proud Narumi-senpai _begging_ for someone to join the S.P., when he already hated the fact that Kiri-chan was in the club.

Taro suddenly realized that he had been left alone.

"Hey! Kiri!! Wait up!!" he cried as he ran to catch up with them.

Later that day, the S.P. were once again in the S.P. room.

Kiri was sitting on the ground. She was working on a mannequin's head that they had given her to cut its hair.

Kiri felt her eyelids grow heavy as she worked on the haircut. She was so sleepy…well, one nap couldn't hurt…Kiri closed her eyes…

A couple of seconds later she felt somebody whack her on the head.

"HEY!! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?? NO SLEEPING ON THE JOB!!"

Kiri rubbed her head as she slowly looked up. She saw a very angry Narumi (not that that isn't normal) standing before her, with a rolled up piece of paper in his hand.

_Ah. Should have known I wouldn't be getting any sleep with __**him**__ around._

"Anyways, even a mussy-head like yourself should know that a true beautician would never take a nap in the middle of cutting someone's hair!!" Narumi continued.

Kiri tilted her head, confused, as she looked up at him. "Hm? But I'm not cutting someone's hair. Just this mannequin's."

Grr…" AH!! PRETEND!! WOULD YOU DO THIS IF YOU WERE CUTTING SOMEONE'S HAIR??" he roared.

Kiri yawned. "No… but in any case, you're so noisy that you woke me up so…" she picked up her scissors and restarted working on the cut.

Narumi glared at her. "YOU'RE NOT CUTE YOU KNOW!!" he yelled as he stomped back to his mannequin's head.

Iori was yelling at him. "Narusy!! **Me** will not allow you to yell at Kirity that way!!"

"SHUT UP!! AND HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO QUIT CALLING ME NARUSY!!"

Kiri sighed as she continued to cut. _They're so loud…._

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

Ochiai closed the S.P. door behind him. Narumi was beside him with Kei, who was munching on a bag of marshmallows. Everyone else had already left.

They began walking down the hallway.

"…hey, Kazuhiko?"

"Yes?"

"Have you gotten anymore of those weird emails?"

"No…that was the only one."

"Oh," Narumi said as he began to think. "So, I guess that proves that it was just a prank, right?"

Ochiai did his thinking pose. "Hmm…I am not sure. The individual seemed to go to extraordinary lengths to cover his tracks. And because of that, we cannot simply assume that this is simply a form of entertainment for somebody."

Narumi blinked. "Huh. Then what do you think it is?"

Ochiai sighed. "Sadly, I have nothing in my data that could help us. Unless or when they take action, that would be the only thing that could avail us right now. However, I am calculating that may send another email soon."

Narumi scowled. "Another? Che. Don't they know that no matter HOW many stupid emails they send us, we won't drop out?"

"Uh, Narumi, they may be serio-"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, what will they do? Kidnap Chisami again?"

"I believe that they might do something more hazardo-"

"Well, BRING IT ON!!" Narumi shouted, raising his fist into the air. There were flames behind him.

Ochiai sweatdropped. "Ah, well…Kei? What are you doing?"

"Toasting marshmallows!" Kei said with a grin. He had one of his marshmallows on a stick (don't ask me where the stick came from) and was toasting it on the flames provided by Narumi.

"Huh?" Narumi said as he lowered his arm. The flames disappeared.

"Aww…well, at least it got half toasted." Kei said as he popped the marshmallow in this mouth.

Narumi had a question mark over his head, and Ochiai sighed as he walked on.

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

Meanwhile, in a dark room somewhere else, a guy sat at his computer. He was checking the teams registered for the All-Japan-Beauty Contest.

He saw his team, and as he continued to scroll down, he saw "Scissors Project."

"Hmm…obviously they haven't taken us seriously. Well, this time, we'll let them know that we're not kidding."

And he clicked, "New Email."

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

The next night, Ochiai and Kei went over to Narumi's house.

"Yay!! Naru-Naru, you're maid-sans are so nice!! They got me lots of food!!" Kei exclaimed excitedly as he stuffed an assortment of cookies in his mouth.

"Uh, yeah sure," Narumi said, "but Kei, don't get crumbs everywhere!!"

Ochiai cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Narumi. I do believe that the reason we are all gathered tonight is to go over the final details for the registration."

"Oh! Right!"

By the time Ochiai and Kei had left, it was almost 11:00 P.M.

Narumi went back into his room. "Agh! Now I have to clean up after Kei! There are crumbs EVERYWHERE!!"

He brushed some off of his bed. "Oh well, it's too late now. Maybe I'll get one of the maid-sans to do it."

Narumi yawned and stretched as he got his pajamas from the dresser.

"It's not really that late, but I'm sleepy." And he went into his bathroom, to change and brush his teeth.

He did not notice a pair of emerald eyes staring at him through his window….

**o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

_At Ochiai's house…._

Ochiai flipped on the light switch as he entered his room. He didn't usually stay over at Narumi's house that late…Kei either. Kei had fallen asleep at around ten.

He glanced over at his laptop. Oh, he hasn't checked the S.P.'s website yet. He usually did it a lot earlier that this, but because he was over at Narumi's house he was unable to.

Ochiai opened and turned on his laptop. When it was turned on he went to the S.P.'s website.

When he got to it, a message box popped up.

Ochiai felt a feeling of dread come over him when he saw the words:

One new email.

He lectured himself. _Why am I like this? It is simply illogical that I should have this feeling of dread. In fact, the S.P. gets scores of emails daily from excited females pleading for a makeover. Surely this is one of those. Surely…_

He clicked on it and began to read.

"_Well, well. It seems that our warning fell on deaf ears. Well, I should have known that we needed more than just an email to make you think that we're serious."_

Ochiai paused. "We? That means there's more than just one…"

"_So to let you know that we're not kidding, we sent you a visual message of sorts. It's pretty hard to miss. It's big; it's bright, and creates a lot noise when realized. Oh and did I mention toasty?'_

Ochiai stared. _Big, bright….toasty? They couldn't possibly mean…!!_

Ochiai lunged for his cell phone. He quickly began to punch in Narumi's cell phone number. "I need to call Narumi! I think they might have…!"

"Hey, this is Narumi. I'm unavailable at the moment…"

Ochiai started at Narumi's voicemail. _He has his phone turned off...he couldn't have gone to bed already! _He glanced at the clock.

_11:30…_

Ochiai clenched his teeth as he looked back at his laptop.

_Hopefully nothing bad happens…._

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

**Narumi's POV**

_I was in a building. Huh? I thought most dreams took place in a meadow filled with flowers…oh well._

_I walked on and startled when I saw…mussy-head??_

_I stomped closer to demand what __**she**__ was doing in__** my **__dream, when I noticed that she wasn't alone. As I got closer, I saw Kazuhiko, Kei, Seki, and...ugh…that loud mouth Iori._

_Why is the whole S.P. here? I looked down at my shirt and saw that I was wearing a t-shirt with the words "Scissors Project" on it._

_Ah. I see now. We must be here for the contest._

_I was about to greet them when I felt heat behind me. I whirled around to see a very strange and freaky sight._

_Five people stood before me. But I couldn't see their features because behind them was a very tall tower of…fire. I gulped. Because of the fire, it shadowed their features, so I could only see their silhouettes. And …their smiles. They were wearing evil smiles…and they were directing their smiles at me…_

_I took a shaky step forward to better view this freaky thing. Then all of the sudden, it vanished, leaving behind a cloud of smoke, which blew into my face._

_I began to cough…_

I woke up coughing. It was just a dream, but the smoke seemed so real. In fact, I can still smell it.

I continued to cough as I sat up and opened one eye. I opened the other as I noticed that it wasn't just a dream!! My room was filled with black smoke!!

I covered my mouth as I fell to the floor and began to crawl towards my door. I had to feel my way around as I couldn't see because of the smoke.

After banging into a couple of things, I finally made it to my door. I slowly opened it….and in the distance I saw orange.

Bright orange.

I yelled one word.

"FIRE!!"

* * *

**And…that's it for the second chapter!! What? You think it's a horrible ending? Heh heh. Well I'll put the next chapter up soon if I feel that people like my story. Cuz if people don't, there's no point right? So review please!! It would make me very happy!! Also, please tell me if I seperated the paragraphs too much. Idk, I just feel like I had to do way too many borders...**


	3. Chapter 3

**C.S.C.: I'm actually updating this a bit sooner than I thought I would. Cuz you see, I started watching a lot of the Prince of Tennis anime, and that got me in a Prince of Tennis "mood." You know, when it's like your current obsession. I watched a lot of the anime, started re-reading the books (so many!), and reading Prince of Tennis fanfictions. I even started writing my own PoT fic. **

**Then something happened. I got 3 reviews in the same hour. One after the other, asking me to write the next chap. Funny thing was, I was actually writing my PoT fic when I got them. And I felt guilty that I was leaving people hanging. So thanks to ilovemusic32, Deerdryad, and Shizune16, cuz it's cuz of you that I started writing this chap, and putting away my PoT stuff for now. (Although I still imagine Sadahara's voice when Ochiai's talking! Gah!) And of course, many thanks to the other people who reviewed, Blue-Straws, and eternalchemist363, your reviews counted too!!**

**Disclaimer: if I owned this then I wouldn't have to put a disclaimer, now would I? (Kudos to Gotta Love Shoes for that one :D)**

* * *

**Recap of chap 2 (Narumi's POV)**

_I woke up coughing. It was just a dream, but the smoke seemed so real. In fact, I can still smell it._

_I continued to cough as I sat up and opened one eye. I opened the other as I noticed that it wasn't just a dream!! My room was filled with black smoke!!_

_I covered my mouth as I fell to the floor and began to crawl towards my door. I had to feel my way around as I couldn't see because of the smoke._

_After banging into a couple of things, I finally made it to my door. I slowly opened it….and in the distance I saw orange._

_Bright orange._

_I yelled one word._

"_FIRE!!"_

**End recap. End Narumi's POV**

_Oh gosh my house in on fire! _Narumi thought as he slammed he door shut. _H-how? _He could hear the loud crackling noises that the fire was making.

_What am I going to do? I can't go out of my door, cuz the fire's nearby…and what about everyone else? Did they make it out okay?_

Narumi looked around his room. Oh! The window!

Narumi covered his mouth and ran to his window. He grabbed it and pulled…pulled it…pull-

Narumi stared at his window. It wouldn't open! Why? Was it because of the smoke? No, that wasn't it.

In any case, now is not the time to analyze why the window wouldn't open. Narumi grabbed the nearest object and used it to smash the window open. He looked at the object in hand.

Oh. It was his briefcase containing his scissors. He was looking at the side that had his name inscribed in gold letters. Well, if scissors were a beautician's life then he defiantly can't leave this behind. He threw it through the window, hoping it would survive the fall. Then he quickly ran to his adjourning bathroom and grabbed a towel. He used the towel to break away the big pieces of glass. Then he quickly climbed out, ignoring the small cuts he was getting from the remaining glass.

Narumi grabbed hold to the large branch next to his room, praying that it wouldn't snap.

He hoisted himself up then realized that his prayers were unanswered when he heard a large SNAP!!

Down fell Narumi, and landed face first in one of the bushes surrounding his house.

_I am going to kill whoever is responsible for this stupid fire _Narumi thought as he got up. He found his briefcase of scissors and lifted it up.

As he lifted it up, he noticed something different about it. He inspected it closer and saw…

Writing on it.

Scrawled in black magic marker were the words:

_Shogo Narumi, take this as a warning that we are not fooling around. If you don't drop out of the contest immediately, out next move will be much worse than just a simple fire._

Narumi looked up at his house, which was by now engulfed by flames. _Simple fire?_ He gulped. Then something hit him.

When he picked up his briefcase in his room there was no writing on it! And the writing was on the same side that he saw, the one with his name inscribed on it.

That would mean that it was written on AFTER he threw it out the window…

And that would mean that the person was still close by…

Narumi felt his heartbeat speed up at the thought that right now that person could be watching him…

He shuddered and started walking quickly toward the front of his house. He noticed a fire truck where his mom and Chisami were huddled together, watching the fire.

His dad was busy yelling at a firefighter.

"You don't understand! Sho-chan's in there! You have to save him! He is the heir to Salon-de-Narumi! You hear me?"

The fire chief sighed. "I understand, sir, and my men are doing everything they can. I'm sure they'll find him soon."

"No need. I'm right here." Narumi said as he walked up to them.

"Sho-chan!!" his dad exclaimed, becoming teary eyed, then hugging him.

"Ugh! GET OFF ME!!" Narumi yelled, struggling to get loose, as the fire chief radioed his men that the boy has been found.

"Oh Sho-chan!! Papa was sooooo worried about you!!" Yujiro continued.

"Whatever," Narumi answered. "And Dad!! I thought I already told you that I'll never take over your stupid salon!!"

"Whaaat?" Narumi's dad said innocently, then his voice became lower. "Well, that all depends on whether or not you win the contest, you know."

Narumi turned away and started walking away. "We'll win! You'll see!"

He could hear his dad chucking as Narumi walked up to a man who he guessed was the arson investigator.

"Hey, um, are you investigating the fire?" Narumi asked the man.

"Yes, I am." The man replied. "How may I help you?"

"Um, well, I think that this might be of help to you," Narumi said as he showed the man his briefcase.

The investigator took the briefcase, and in the light provided by the fire, read the message. "Hoo boy. Seems like it might be arson. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to confiscate this as evidence. Is there anything in here important?"

"Yes, my scissors."

"Well, here. Get your scissors out of there then give it back to me," the investigator said as he handed back the briefcase to Narumi, then walked away.

Narumi knelt down and put it on the ground. He pushed the button to unlatch it, then opened the top.

He stared.

His scissors were gone…

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

**Next week at school…**

"Oh Narumi, your house burned down?" Ochiai asked him during homeroom, the next week when he returned to school.

"Yeah." Narumi answered.

"Oh, so that was why you missed a whole week of school, Naru-Naru?" Kei asked as he sucked on a lollypop.

"Well, yeah."

"So where are you currently boarding?" Ochiai asked.

"Ha! My stupid dad just went and bought another mansion, furnished, and new everything!"

"So you lost everything, Naru?" Kei asked, tilting his head sorrowfully.

"Yeah…but I got new everything too. Which reminds me…." Narumi said as he turned toward Ochiai, and he proceeded to tell him about his briefcase and missing scissors.

Ochiai did his thinking pose. "Hmm…so you were unable to open your window? So you used your briefcase to break the window, then when you climbed down, you noticed writing on it, and your scissors gone?"

Narumi rubbed the back of his head. "Well…I didn't really _climb_ down….but yeah, that 's how it happened."

"Ah," Ochiai said, grasping the situation. "And have the investigators ruled what the cause of the fire was?"

"Yeah…arson. But they don't know by whom."

Ochiai sighed. _They did exactly what I predicted they would. _Narumi, I must tell you something. The night of your fire, I got another email."

Narumi pounced on Ochiai's desk. "REALLY?! ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE STUPID EMAILS?! WHAT DID IT SAY?!"

"Uh, well, it just said that they thought that we weren't taking them seriously, so they were going to send us a sign, to prove to us that they were serious."

"A…a sign?" Narumi choked out.

"Yes. Apparently your house fire was that sign. For in the email they gave these clues: that it was loud, bright, and toasty. So in other words, a fire."

Narumi had his fists clenched on Ochiai's desk, and was shaking with rage. "Those…jerks…THAT FIRE WAS A FRICKIN SIGN?? I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!! WHAT IF I HAD BEEN KILLED??"

Ochiai pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I believe that may have been their intention."

Narumi gaped at him. "W-w-wha-at?"

Ochiai sighed. "I believed that perhaps at first it was only for what they said. A sign. But it's quite possible that they took advantage of the situation to try to get rid of you once and for all. Your sealed window and the broken branch only confirm that."

"H-hang on. Those things weren't accidents or anything?"

Ochiai raised an eyebrow. "Narumi. Do you really think that simply smoke could seal a window?"

"Well, no, I thought it was kinda strange that it wouldn't open…"

"Exactly. So they must have put some sort of sealing substance on it. And how about the tree outside your window? What type of tree is it?"

Narumi thought for a sec. "Oak, I think."

"And how thick was the branch?"

"Pretty thick. I thought it would hold my weight."

"Under normal circumstances, it would. But if somebody tampered with it, say, cut partly through it, then that would cause it to snap."

Narumi stared. "Oh." He sat back. It wasn't exactly a good feeling knowing that there was a group of people out there that wanted you dead. Then he slowly began to get angry again.

"WELL WHAT IS WITH THOSE GUYS?? IS A MILLION YEN REALLY WORTH THAT MUCH TO THEM THAT THEY WOULD **KILL **FOR IT??WHY DO THEY NEED TO WIN THE CONTEST SO BADLY?? AND AM I THE ONLY ONE BEING TARGATED?? OR ARE THEY THREATING EVERYONE ELSE TOO??"

Narumi huffed.

Ochiai shook his head. "Unfortunately, I do not know. All I need is once piece of information and that would suffice. But until I get there, there's nothing I can do."

Narumi gritted his teeth. "They told me that next time they would do something much worse than a fire." He said in a low voice. "But if they think that they will make me drop out, then they better wake up. BECAUSE I, SHOGO NARUMI, WILL NOT BACK DOWN!!"

Ochiai smirked. "Ah, so, do you want me to submit our withdrawl?"

Narumi banged his fist on Ochiai's desk. "NO!! WE WILL **NOT** WITHDRAWL!!" he exhaled, then raised his eyes to send a glare to Ochiai. "My dad will not win," he said in a low voice.

Narumi turned around in his desk to face forward as class began. But he whispered one more sentence.

"I will do everything I can do to make sure that my dad does not win."

**C.S.C.: Ta da!! There's the third chapter! Goes back to watch more PoT anime. Lol, well I'll write the next chap soon, so don't worry! Btw, hey Haley (aka ilovemusic32) when you come over, I'll show you my Beauty Pop books so you can see the characters, kay? **

**Sorry if it's too short, that just seemed like the best place to end it, lol. Oh and here's something that might help understand one part better: the prize for winning the All-Japan-Beatuy Contest is one million yen. Roughly about 100,000 U.S.**

**Review if you would, please!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Between school, soccer practice, and Algebra II, I've had hardly any free time. So, I'm really sorry for the super late update!! But it's Spring Break now!!**

**By the way, I'm over my phase with Prince of Tennis. I'm into Shugo Chara and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya now, lol. Well, don't worry. I'll still work on my story whenever I have time (who knows when that will be D:)**

**Well, thanks for all the reviews!! Now on with the chapter! A couple things shall be revealed!**

**Disclaimer: This will cover for the rest of the story. It is quite obvious that I obviously do not own Beauty Pop. Obviously.**

* * *

_Click click click_

Those were the sounds of keyboard keys being pushed as a man who seemed to be about twenty one typed in a website's URL.

He stopped typing and instead, used the mouse to scroll down through a certain list that's come to be familiar to him. He spotted a certain name and sighed.

"Mika," he called.

A girl who was in the opposite corner in the room snapped up. She seemed to be about nineteen. "Yes?" she answered.

"Come over here," he said as he motioned with his hand. "Look at this."

The girl, "Mika" apparently, ran over to him. She leaned over his shoulder to look at his laptop. The light from the screen lit up her eyes, which were green.

Emerald green.

"Look," the guy said, pointing to something on the screen.

Mika looked, and then stared at it. Then she straightened up as she shook her head.

"Is he stupid, or what? It's been almost a month since we burned down his house! And I wrote a warning note and everything! I even took his scissors!" Mika exclaimed as she pointed to a bag that contained Narumi's scissors.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed. "Obviously, that wasn't enough. I guess that means its time for our next move."

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

Meanwhile at Rykofu High…

Kiri sighed as she closed the door to the S.P.'s room. Today had been yet another training day. She was getting a little tired of them.

Kiri yawned as she walked to get her shoes. She was about to leave when she saw somebody step in front of her.

The person was female, about 5'5", had elbow length brown wavy hair, and was wearing a blue top with jeans. The thing, though, that stood out most about her was her eyes

Which was an amazing shade of…

Emerald green.

"Excuse me," the girl said as she cocked her head to one side while looking at Kiri. "I just saw you walk out of that clubroom over there. Are you, perhaps, a member?"

Kiri glanced back at the said clubroom, which was the S.P., and answered, "Well, I guess you could say that."

The girl smiled. "Really? I thought there were only three members, all guys."

Kiri yawned. "Huh. Well, if you excuse me, I have to go home now, so…" and she walked away.

The girl (who I'm sure you all have guessed by now that it's Mika) shot a glare at Kiri's retreating form. "What a rude kid."

Mika pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.

"_Hello?"_

"Tsutomu? It's Mika. I found the S.P. clubroom. It seems that there are more than just three members…"

"_What do you mean?"_

"Well, I just saw a girl, and she claimed to be a member…well, she didn't exactly _claim_"

"_Hmm...I'll have to look into that. But for now, get Narumi's cell phone number."_

"W-what? Get his number?! How am I supposed to do that?!"

"_Figure out a way, Mika."_

"But-!"

"_I'm going to hang up now."_

"No, wait! Tsu-"

Then Mika heard the call disconnected tone. She sighed as she pocketed her phone again.

_Get that stupid Narumi's phone number…_

**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o**

Meanwhile in the S.P. room…

"Hey Naru-Naru! Want a cookie?" Kei said as he waved a cookie in the air.

Narumi glanced up from the stuff he was organizing. "No thanks."

"Okay, well then, how about some chips?" Kei tried again.

"That's okay."

"Chocolate?"

"Kei…"

"Crackers?"

"KEI…!"

"Oh, well, then maybe you'll like-"

"KEI I'M NOT HUNGRY!!" Narumi yelled.

Kei blinked. "Oh. Well, why didn't you say so?" and he continued to chomp.

Narumi sent him a glare as he finished cleaning. "Well, I'm done, so I guess I'll be heading off to the beauty collage."

Ochiai glanced up from his laptop. "Oh okay. Goodbye, Narumi."

Narumi stood up and grabbed his school bag. "Okay then. See you all-"

SMASH!!

"AAH!!"

Narumi fell to the ground, stunned, as glass rained everywhere._ What the heck?! _He thought.

When it had all settled, he slowly got up, brushing the glass shards off.

"What the-" Narumi started, then froze.

The large window was smashed.

And on the table lay a large rock.

Someone had thrown a rock through the window…

"The rock landed on my cookies…"Kei said mournfully, looking at what used to be cookies, now just a pile of crumbs.

Narumi ran over. "But you're unhurt? I heard you scream, right after the smash."

"I think so…" Kei said as he brushed all the glass off him. Since he was sitting right next to the window, he was the one who got the most glass.

"You are hurt!" Narumi said, as he saw that Kei had a large cut on his right cheek.

"Oww!!" Kei whimpered. "It hurts!!"

Ochiai inspected the rock. "Hmm? There's a note attached."

Narumi grabbed it. Sure enough, a piece of paper had been tied to the stone. He angrily opened it and read it.

_Narumi, take this as yet another warning. We are NOT playing around._

Narumi stared at the note and shook with anger. "That…jerk…LET'S GO CATCH HIM!! AND WHEN I DO I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!!"

And with that Narumi ran out of the room.

"Hang on, Naru-Naru! I'm coming too!" Kei said as he ran after him.

A trail of glass followed him.

Ochiai was left alone in the room. He sighed as he pushed his glasses up on his nose. _Hmm…Narumi's such a hothead…did he not even notice how suspicious the note seemed? I hardly doubt that the same people who burned his house down would come all the way to here just to throw a rock through the window with such a trivial note…there must be something more…_

Ochiai did his pose as he thought. Then, _Aha! That must be it! _Ochiai smirked as he left the room.

The door slowly creaked open and Mika slipped in. "Whew! I thought that glasses boy was never going to leave!"

She looked around the room. "I guess they bought the note, even though I wrote it in a hurry and didn't really think it through."

"Now, what I need is…aha! There!' Mika spotted exactly what she was looking for.

A cell phone.

Mika quickly grabbed it. "Yay!" She flipped it open.

"Oh? It's that rude girl from the hall," Mika commented as she saw the wallpaper of Kiri. "Well, that doesn't matter." She quickly went to the phonebook, and scrolled down until she saw "Narumi."

She smiled. "Found it!" Then she copied it into her own cell phone.

She had just saved it when she heard footsteps outside.

"Uh oh!"

Mika looked around frantically. Where to escape to?!

Ah!

The window!!

She ran to the now shattered window and jumped out. Then she started running for all she was worth.

The door opened and Ochiai walked in. He smiled as he pushed his glasses up. "Interesting…good data…"

* * *

**Ha ha! Ochiai never actually left! He just hid outside! So like Ochiai.**

**In any case, ugh, I don't really like this chapter T.T I think I stressed the color of Mika's eyes too much. But I wanted you guys to know that she was the same person that was outside of Narumi's window in chapter 2…**

**Gah! I just noticed that none of my borders showed up in the other chapters!! I'm going to have to edit that!! **

**I don't really know when the next time I'll update will be, seeing as my schedule is pretty busy except on the week ends…so I will as soon as I can! **

**Review please!!**

**Edit: **Kay, I didnt change anything, but I added the borders that didnt show up before. So the flow of the story should improve a bit...I hope XD

**And so ends my author note. And now I shall reply to the anonymous reviewers, seeing as I cannot reply to them via 'review-reply'. So, if you were not an anonymous reviewer, the next section doesnt anything important, so you are free to leave…that is, if you haven't already XD.**

**Sandra: Thank you and you're welcome. Yeah, idk where you live, but here in the U.S. it doesn't come out until June. Which is not **_**that **_**far away I suppose XD. And yeah, I agree that parts of my story were bland U.U, I'm sorry. Finally, idk if I will bring in Takeda since 1. Chisami hardly shows up in this story 2. I wasn't exactly sure if this story would have romance or not. And if it did it would kinda implied ya know? I'm not good at writing romance, so sorry!!**


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